Proclaimer Blog
Welcome back. Different this time?
I hope you’ve had a good break. Even if you didn’t get away, church in the summer is always different. Not less busy, of course, because there are often camps and holiday clubs to fill the time. But different. And, they say, a change is as good as a rest. I find summer working allows me to do some catching up with things that don’t always get the attention they need – for me that means book editing and writing. And – to be honest – it’s the summer when I make all my resolutions. Next year I am going to be more organised for…. (fill in the blanks).
But it’s also good to take stock spiritually and I’m really grateful to have had some breathing space to have been able to do that. The busy-ness of pastoral work often means that this is low on the agenda. We tend to think that our daily work of prayer and the ministry of the word will somehow keep us fresh and alive without any need for deeper heart work. As long as we can keep ticking over and keep the motor running, then we’ll be able to establish a base line which will sustain us for another 12 months of ministry.
But that way of thinking is dangerous. It’s dangerous for our own souls, and dangerous for those to whom we minister (1 Tim 4.16). For the most part ministry is not a four lane highway with no bends or curves or uphills – the kind of road you can drive on autopilot. No, unless your church experience is very different from mine (really?), then ministry is a windy country lane which needs constant vigilance for both yourself and your hearer.
Look back over the last twelve months. Did you just scrape by? Be honest with yourself. How come you made it through? Was it that you really were alive and kicking? Or was it that you were simply not discovered? Were you truly radiating the gospel or did you just manage to keep the mask on? These are sobering questions, and now – as things ramp up again – is the time to read, pray, commit and do what the Apostle commands. “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”